Résumés
Abstract
What are the political and ontological implications of COVID‑19? I had plenty of time to reflect on this from March to July after I ended fieldwork in Guam and unexpectedly spent four months in Taiwan. Because of Taiwan’s proximity to China, where the pandemic began, it initially seemed as if it would be among the most serious cases. Instead, Taiwan’s public health measures allowed it to become one of the few places in the world relatively untouched by the virus. The experience of Taiwan with COVID‑19 was shaped most of all by tense relations with China and the non-recognition of the country by the World Health Organization (WHO). There are also intriguing differences within Taiwan where historically Chinese settler groups and Indigenous peoples related to other Pacific Islanders find their place in the world through a broad spectrum of non-Western ontologies. In travelogue genre, I reflect upon their different stories and practices of worlding as fears of the pandemic ontributed to a heightened sense of crisis, ethnic tensions, and a rise in nationalism. This reveals important ontological differences that will continue to influence the geopolitics of the region even beyond the current pandemic.
Keywords:
- Taiwan,
- COVID‑19,
- geopolitics,
- political ontology,
- Indigenous peoples
Résumé
Quelles sont les implications politiques et ontologiques de la COVID-19 ? J’ai eu tout le temps de réfléchir à cette question entre mars et juillet, lors d’un séjour impromptu de quatre mois à Taïwan, à la suite de mon travail de terrain à Guam. Du fait de la proximité de Taïwan avec la Chine, où et née la pandémie, il semblait au départ que ce pays serait l’un des plus atteints par la pandémie. Au lieu de cela, grâce aux mesures de santé publique mises en oeuvre par l’État, Taïwan est devenu l’un des rares endroits au monde à être relativement épargnés par le virus. L’expérience taïwanaise de la COVID-19 a surtout été marquée par des relations tendues avec la Chine et par la non-reconnaissance du pays par l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS). Par ailleurs, il existe des différences intéressantes à Taïwan entre les descendants de Chinois et les peuples autochtones liés aux autres sociétés insulaires du Pacifique, deux groupes qui se font une place dans le monde au moyen d’un large éventail d’ontologies non occidentales. Sur le mode du récit de voyage, j’interroge les différents récits et pratiques de production du monde qu’ont développés ces groupes alors que les craintes suscitées par la pandémie contribuaient à accroître le sentiment de crise, aux tensions ethniques et à la montée du nationalisme. Cette réflexion révèle d’importantes différences ontologiques qui continueront d’influencer la géopolitique de la région même au-delà de la pandémie actuelle.
Mots-clés :
- Taiwan,
- COVID‑19,
- géopolitique,
- ontologie politique,
- peoples autochtones
Parties annexes
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